For a county that has been notoriously nasty to African-Americans, the one place they have always received a welcome was playing for your Anaheim Angels of Anaheim. From the earliest days of Leon “Daddy Wags” Wagner through Alex Johnson through the glory days of Don Baylor, Reggie Jackson, and Rod Carew through Garrett Anderson, Torii Hunter, and Howie Kendricks, the Halos have almost always counted at least one black player as one of its stars.
Until this year. For the first time perhaps ever, there are no African-Americans on the Angels' roster.
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The Weekly reviewed every Angels roster listed on Baseball Reference, one of the most comprehensive keeper of stats on the Internet, and found that each Halos squad dating back to the team's founding in 1961 had at least one African-American player…until this year. Now, it could've been that there were times during a particular season where the Angels didn't have a black player on the team–hence, my qualifying question mark. But this much is true: there are no African-American players on the Angels right now, making it one of very few teams in the majors with such a scenario.
Angels fans can place the blame on the general big-league dearth of blacks all they want, and they might be on to something. Then again: where the black players at, Arte Moreno? You could've kept Howie Kendrick–who's giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a jolt in the infield–instead of wasting millions on Josh Hamilton, no? And, sorry: Erick Aybar doesn't count–ask Torii Hunter why.
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